Caravan of Courage, Betamax, CBS/Fox Video, Mayco A/S, Norway 1986
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This film goes by many names. "The Ewok Adventure" is what the title card on the film itself says. Outside the US it is mostly known as "Caravan of Courage - An Ewok Adventure". In Norway the video boxes used the title "Caravan of Courage - The Ewok Heroes "(translated), while the title card on the film is subtitled "Caravan of Heroes" in Norwegian.
The original Norwegian rental tape from 1986 features the film in the original 4x3 aspect ratio, in English with Norwegian subtitles. Ahead of the film is a trailer for The Empire Strikes Back, while a Return of the Jedi trailer appears after the end credits. All rental tapes at the time came in so-called "Big box" covers. I left the rental shop sticker on, to document part of the provenance of this tape. Beta rental tapes are comparatively rare compared to their VHS equivalents, but also less sought after. As of early 2025 a small community of vintage Norwegian rental tape collectors has emerged, driven by nostalgia and affinity for obsolete technology. Most members of this community are like me, middle-aged men with grown-up incomes, which leads to some unhealthy bidding wars on the associated Facebook groups. The interest in the Betamax versions is luckily more subdued, so I usually come away with winning bids at a reasonable cost. You'll note the sticker spanning the front, spine and back of this release. With the advent of home video in the early eighties, the industry was unregulated and quickly became associated with proliferation of violent and pornographic materials. In 1987 the Norwegian government started requiring distributors to submit every release for classification and registration in the so-called Video Register ("Videogramregisteret"). Tapes not carrying the Video Register emblem and unique registry number could not be legally rented or sold. The sticker covering the front, spine and back of rental tapes was applied to every existing release to comply with the rule. The stickers were usually clumsily applied, and covered up the artwork. Finding a copy without this sticker is very rare. Unfortunately the glue used for these stickers is particuarily tough, making it almost impossible to remove after all these years. |
Company logo
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Empire trailer
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Title card
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Teleplay credit
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Muzzle flash
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Sacred totem
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Matte painting
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Jedi trailer
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